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Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

theguardian.com

101–110 of 158 posts

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#102
post #97

Azerbaijan is not poor or small, please change the submission title , it s insulting

Poor and Small are comparatives. Compared to the UK, USA, France, Italy, Germany, China, Russia and on and on: Azerbaijan is poor and small. It ranks 112th in the world for size, 99th for population, 86th for GDP. When comparing things, especially when it's relevant to the subject (facebook doesn't care about comparatively small and poor countries) then it is not offensive. Unless you want to take offence.

It's average, about the population size of Sweden, would anyone call sweden small? The problem is that the title deflects from the issue which is not that these countries are poor (Azb is rich enough to run an extensive laundering operation to whitewash their corruption). Facebook does the same in Turkey for example, and who knows how many other countries.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#103
post #99
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So who are the non-MSM in your opinion? Facebook is more than merely and aggregator. They know how to keep peoples' eyes glued to them. They know what stories/narratives will push your buttons so to speak.

I am sorry I can't answer your question: I read many many sources (from big name media to small time bloggers), contrast and apply common sense. I know my limitations to access the 'truth', and I live with that, always in doubt. That said, regarding Facebook, I genuinely never used it really (I have a placeholder account), never used Instagram, never used Messenger, never installed any of these apps on my phone, neve…

You apply the term MSM and thus must have a notion of what constitutes the MSM, right? So which media sources don't count as MSM? If you can't name such sources then why use MSM instead of "mass media"?

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#104
post #55

The Guardian, and a few other outfits in global media sold its readership very hard on the "Gadhafi killing his own people" fallacy to enable Islamist gangs to plunder and maim and kill and ruin the societal fabric of Libya (and a few southern neighbors). Since then, Libya is a wasteland, its inhabitants enslaved as a whole (as opposed to the few political (read Islamists) prisoners' under the Gadhafi dictatorship),…

I've learnt those blaming the evil "MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!!!!" are rarely worth listening to. You know why it's mainstream? Because it's nuanced, and well-researched and run by actual real-life journalists. You know what you're left with when the media is no longer mainstream? The extremes.

It's mainstream because it's owned by wealthy people who can maintain circulation even if it is losing money, and because those people are willing to float administration and intelligence narratives uncritically and anonymously.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#105
post #57
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't need a new journalism, we need a new economic model to support the old old journalism (pre-1990s). The three foundational planks that we've since lost are (1) strong newsroom editorial control of content, independent of revenue, (2) long form & investigative journalism as a stable, viable profession, & (3) journalists and journalism outlets with reputation (able to counter-balance the weight of those they re…

Substack is that new economic model for a limited number of investigative journalists who have strong name recognition like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi. But it probably won't scale to the levels were need.

Substack is currently awesome but it isn't going to be able to pay for journalism on any significant scale, as you mentioned. Journalism needs to be paid for by philanthropy. Absolute independence from market forces and political pressures. There are enough billionaires that could fund endless journalism off a fraction of their interest earnings.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#106

This would have not be a problem if there was no algorithm to show you the top stories. Just show the stories in chronological order - let the users think before subscribing to 1000 pages and having 800 friends.

But users want the most interesting or important or relevant content to be highlighted.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#107

The Guardian has more coverage in this article, which was published at the same time: "How Facebook let fake engagement distort global politics: a whistleblower's account" - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-... It's interesting how Guy Rosen, a co-founder of the spyware company Onavo, is now Facebook's "vice-president of integrity": > Facebook had “moved slower than we’d like because of pri…

> Guy Rosen, a co-founder of the spyware company Onavo, is now Facebook's "vice-president of integrity" Isn't that just the perfect match, based on how Facebook defines "integrity"?

Strategically placed someone that would align with their values and goals while making appearances that they care about "integrity". This strategic placements of persons happens everywhere.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#108
post #103
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sorry I can't answer your question: I read many many sources (from big name media to small time bloggers), contrast and apply common sense. I know my limitations to access the 'truth', and I live with that, always in doubt. That said, regarding Facebook, I genuinely never used it really (I have a placeholder account), never used Instagram, never used Messenger, never installed any of these apps on my phone, neve…

You apply the term MSM and thus must have a notion of what constitutes the MSM, right? So which media sources don't count as MSM? If you can't name such sources then why use MSM instead of "mass media"?

We are completely gone off-subject, but here is my take: I don't believe the MSM/Non-MSM divide creates any magical trust or value. The national (or international) household names (say WaPo, NYT, CNN, Fox, Slate, BBC, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, Le Monde, Le Figaro, El Pais, Al Jazeera, etc.: extrapolate worldwide...) just have the power to do more harm/control/propaganda. Non-MSM (or non household recognizable names) are not more trustful in my view, obviously. In short: read, contrast, doubt, apply common sense.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#109
post #65
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a terrible take, and it seems like you have a grudge audient Guardian. Following your own logic, lay off the guardian hate. Their reporting is solid, and much needed these days.

I have no grudge against The Guardian in particular, I have a grudge against ALL media (purporting to be 'left' leaning) that fed us lies (under the guise of R2P) to ease most wars and imperialist adventures. This post links to The Guardian, and The Guardian was most vociferous in the destruction of Libya (and Syria).

Do you have a source for the guardian editorial policy being pro the toppling of Gaddafi's regime in Libya? The Guardian is far from perfect but generally they were and are against military intervention by the UK.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#110

The Guardian has more coverage in this article, which was published at the same time: "How Facebook let fake engagement distort global politics: a whistleblower's account" - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-... It's interesting how Guy Rosen, a co-founder of the spyware company Onavo, is now Facebook's "vice-president of integrity": > Facebook had “moved slower than we’d like because of pri…

Wow this could be a lot more serious than I thuoght. People in the West need to realize that, in countries without free press, facebook is much more important for people, and probably the major source of news. And this girl appears to have been super-productive , which makes her firing suspicious imho. And not only that, i suspect many of the 'delays' will be found to be inside operations.

I think there will be more to this story as it unfolds. And this doesnt even cover twitter , which afaik does not even try to weed out trolls.

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